A Tribute to My Great-Uncle Jake

My mother's uncle Jake passed away this month, and I only had the chance to meet him once, at a reunion about 16 years ago. I was told that he had been through a lot, and a was a great man. Little did I know how much he had been through. Here, in the entirety, is the obituary that was printed in the local Georgia paper (I have put some amazing features in bold):

LaFAYETTE — James Kellum "Jake" Levie, 90, died Friday, March 3, 2006. He was born Nov. 14, 1915, in Atlanta.

His later childhood was spent in Korea, and he returned to the United States to attend Berry School in Kentucky and then the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he studied electrical engineering and joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

In 1939, he entered active duty in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He was stationed in the Philippine Islands when World War II began, and became a prisoner of war when the American forces were surrendered to the Japanese in April 1942. He survived the notorious Bataan Death March and three years of captivity in Mukden, Manchuria, before being liberated by Soviet troops in 1945. After the war, he transferred to Army Counter-intelligence with assignments in occupied Japan, in Huntsville, Ala., and in Birmingham, Ala. In 1959, he retired from the Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Among his military honors was the Silver Star, awarded for actions against the Japanese in the Philippines during the celebrated withdrawal to the Bataan Peninsula in 1941. In 1960, he joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the newly created Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. He worked there until 1986, rising to the position of chief of security by the time he retired with some 46 years of cumulative federal service.

In 1941, he married Avis Virginia Nash, of Atlanta, a union which lasted until her death in 2005 (that's 64 years folks!). During his retirement, they lived on a small farm near Huntsville, where he tended his prized herd of purebred Angus cattle, indulged his lifelong interests in the mechanical arts and agriculture and shepherded his children through school and out into the world.

Jake and Avis moved in 2002 to LaFayette, to be closer to relatives of their generation.

Survivors include their three children, James K. Levie III, of Huntsville, Harold W. Levie, of Livermore, Calif., and Virginia A. Maloney of Brooklyn, N.Y.; five grandchildren, Julie C. Levie and Edward J. Levie, of Livermore, Kelwyn M. Levie and Ryan E. Levie, of Huntsville, and James N. Maloney, of Brooklyn; two brothers, Dr. Walter H. Levie, of LaFayette, and Jim F. Levie, of San Francisco, Calif.; and a sister, Jessie R. Gilreath, of California (my grandmother); several nieces and nephews also survive.
Funeral 1 p.m. Monday from the Wallis Memorial Chapel with services conducted by Dr. Todd Gaddis.
Interment in Chattanooga National Cemetery with full military honors.
The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. today at the funeral home.
Arrangements are by Wallis-Wilbanks Funeral Home of LaFayette.

What a life! Did you notice that even AFTER he was a POW for three years, he stayed in the Army? That he was motivated more than ever to serve his country? We certainly need more men like my uncle Jake with the courage, character and integrity that he possessed.

Here's to you, Uncle Jake. I wish I had known you better. I'd encourage anyone who knows of a veteran or someone who has had such life experience to take some time to listen (not talk)--much wisdom can be gained.